Carrier capture into InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells via impurity mediated resonant tunnelling

We have investigated the photoexcited carrier dynamics in In1-x GaxAs/GaAs quantum wells using the photoluminescence up-conversion technique. We found a unique capture process which was exceptional both in terms of the capture time and its temperature dependence. In the case of a specific quantum well with wide barriers, the photoluminescence rise time, a parameter which includes the overall capture time and the exciton formation time, was less than 600 fs instead of the expected few hundred picoseconds. We show in this work that this unusually rapid process is the result of the capture of the photoexcited carriers (or excitons) by impurities in the GaAs barriers, from where they resonantly tunnel into the quantum well. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.